History Help Line. Congregation Beth Ahm, et al: ID-ing Decades of Photos 

The history of Congregation Beth Ahm is fascinating. With its name shortened in 2000, one might not realize that the congregation developed over decades of mergers. The earliest of these congregations was Beth Abraham, founded in 1892. From there, numerous synagogues (and organizations) became part of the Beth Ahm story: Beth Hillel, Beth Itzchock, the First Galician Society of Detroit, Beth Moses, Evergreen Jewish Congregation, and Adat Israel-Moses. You can learn more about its history here.

When the records of Beth Ahm were donated to the Leonard N. Simons Jewish Community Archives in 2018, it included hundreds of photographs from these many synagogues. Most were unidentified, like this image from the groundbreaking of the Beth Moses sanctuary in 1967.

We have more than 140 images currently digitized from this collection, and we could use your help identifying them. If you were a member (or knew someone who was) of Beth Abraham, Beth Ahm, or anything in-between, please take a look at the photos on our digital database. If you recognize anyone, or can provide information on any of the images, simply hit the “send us feedback” button. Please be as specific as possible with your information. It will really help our efforts to tag and describe the images as accurately as possible!

History Help Line is brought to you by the Joan Meyers Jampel Center for Michigan Jewish Heritage, a collaboration between the Rabbi Leo M. Franklin Archives of Temple Beth El and the Leonard N. Simons Jewish Community Archives of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.